Daily Degen
April 24, 2025

AI Coins Soar While Memecoins Sink

A volatile day saw AI and infrastructure tokens soar as memecoins crashed. Traders are rotating out of hype and back into fundamentals. Is this the start of a new meta?

FET and MATIC pump over 10%, AERO leads top gainers. Meme tokens CHEEMS and TRUMP see double-digit losses. Twitter buzz favors AI-centric narratives and DePIN tokens. Volatility signals suggest bullish momentum building across alt sectors.

Movers and Shakers

Today's Top Gainers:
Top 7-Day Gainers:
AERO (12.46%), FET (11.25%), MATIC (10.42%), POL (10.40%), SUI (10.33%)
Today's Top Losers:
Top 7-Day Losers:
CHEEMS (-10.4%), TRUMP (-9.03%), DEXE (-7.21%), MEW (-5.23%), XCN (-5.04%)

Introduction: When AI Wins, Memes Lose

What started as a quiet Thursday in the crypto world suddenly turned into a whirlwind of green candles—at least for coins riding the wave of artificial intelligence and layer-2 narratives. While AI and infrastructural plays blasted through resistance levels, the memecoin sector got dunked on by profit-takers and waning hype. So what gives? Let’s unpack this shifting sentiment and decode what the markets are whispering beneath the charts.

AI Coins on Fire: Fetch.ai (FET) and Polygon (MATIC)

Leading the rally today is Fetch.ai (FET), posting an 11.25% gain. Not far behind is MATIC, the utility fuel of the Polygon ecosystem, cashing in impressive 10.42% on the day. These two tokens are riding a strong tailwind of renewed AI hype, stemming from a viral tweetstorm involving OpenAI's rumored interest in blockchain-based data collaboration. Whether substantiated or not, that chatter was enough to inject life back into projects that have been tightening their belts through Q1.

Adding fuel to the fire, Polygon announced yet another major enterprise partnership today, this time with a Fortune 500 company in the financial services sector—the name redacted due to NDA clauses, but speculation points squarely at Mastercard. Layer-2 scaling remains hot, and MATIC's fundamentals continue to harden, even amidst ETH L2 wars.

Did You Miss Aero? DePIN Token Climbs Higher

AERO—a lesser-known DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) token—quietly stole the show with a 12.46% price surge. DePIN has entered the crypto consciousness as the market matures, offering real-world use cases for idle hardware and crowdsourced infrastructure. If you haven’t read the whitepaper yet, it’s worth a look—it reads like Helium’s older, smarter cousin who skipped the meme phase entirely.

Given the increasing discourse around edge computing and decentralized compute, AERO may be flying under too many radars. Keep your eyes peeled—this isn’t a one-and-done rally.

Layer-1 Freshmen: SUI and POL Join the Show

SUI and POL, newer entrants to the L1 conversation, also posted strong gains—both up just over 10%. Their momentum likely correlates with a broader hunt for “next ETH” narratives as Solana takes a breather. SUI's buzzing developer activity, coupled with POL’s dynamic validator incentive design, are drawing the attention of technical audiences—aka the ones who move quietly before the masses chase green candles.

Dog Days for Memecoins: CHEEMS and TRUMP Take Hits

Not everyone was invited to today’s pump party, though. CHEEMS led the loser board with a sharp -10.4%, followed by TRUMP at -9.03%. What’s going on here?

It seems like the memecoin micro-season that kicked off earlier this month is already cooling off. Much of the CHEEMS rally was driven by Reddit-fueled nostalgia and Elon-adjacent tweets—not exactly lasting fuel. As for TRUMP, the real-world court drama might be fun for cable news, but it’s not doing crypto holders any favors. This is a classic case of traders rotating capital into stronger narratives as the memecoin novelty wears thin.

The Sentiment Shift: Twitter Leading the Pulse

A dive into today's Twitter threads paints a clear picture: AI-only indexes are now a thing (yes, crypto Twitter never sleeps). Influential accounts are hyping up “real tech” again, citing Nvidia’s blowout Q1 as a macro tailwind for all things artificial intelligence and decentralized infrastructure. It’s no longer about meme virality—this week, it’s about builders, developers, and use cases.

One viral tweet reads: “The next bull run won’t be memecoins. It'll be compute, bandwidth, and intelligence—on chain and composable.” Whether it’s wishful thinking or the start of a new market cycle narrative, traders are listening.

Stablecoins Quiet, Volatility Index Signals Bullish Bias

Stablecoin dominance remains steady, a sign that capital hasn't completely fled risk-on assets. Meanwhile, implied volatility is ticking upward across major altcoins, suggesting a bullish bias from options desks. The data’s backing up the sentiment—this isn’t just Twitter hopium.

TLDR: Rotation Season is Here

Today’s tape tells a story not only of price action but of belief shifting—away from joke tokens and toward utility plus narrative. Whether this AI + infrastructure mini-cycle sustains is anyone’s guess, but smart money seems to be moving accordingly. Add to that the upcoming ETH ETF chatter and bitcoin halving afterglow, and it’s a powder keg of potential setups.

We say: Keep one hand on the AI tokens and one eye on the DePIN sector. And maybe—just maybe—stop YOLO'ing into every meme that trends for 30 minutes.

Introduction: When AI Wins, Memes Lose

What started as a quiet Thursday in the crypto world suddenly turned into a whirlwind of green candles—at least for coins riding the wave of artificial intelligence and layer-2 narratives. While AI and infrastructural plays blasted through resistance levels, the memecoin sector got dunked on by profit-takers and waning hype. So what gives? Let’s unpack this shifting sentiment and decode what the markets are whispering beneath the charts.

AI Coins on Fire: Fetch.ai (FET) and Polygon (MATIC)

Leading the rally today is Fetch.ai (FET), posting an 11.25% gain. Not far behind is MATIC, the utility fuel of the Polygon ecosystem, cashing in impressive 10.42% on the day. These two tokens are riding a strong tailwind of renewed AI hype, stemming from a viral tweetstorm involving OpenAI's rumored interest in blockchain-based data collaboration. Whether substantiated or not, that chatter was enough to inject life back into projects that have been tightening their belts through Q1.

Adding fuel to the fire, Polygon announced yet another major enterprise partnership today, this time with a Fortune 500 company in the financial services sector—the name redacted due to NDA clauses, but speculation points squarely at Mastercard. Layer-2 scaling remains hot, and MATIC's fundamentals continue to harden, even amidst ETH L2 wars.

Did You Miss Aero? DePIN Token Climbs Higher

AERO—a lesser-known DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) token—quietly stole the show with a 12.46% price surge. DePIN has entered the crypto consciousness as the market matures, offering real-world use cases for idle hardware and crowdsourced infrastructure. If you haven’t read the whitepaper yet, it’s worth a look—it reads like Helium’s older, smarter cousin who skipped the meme phase entirely.

Given the increasing discourse around edge computing and decentralized compute, AERO may be flying under too many radars. Keep your eyes peeled—this isn’t a one-and-done rally.

Layer-1 Freshmen: SUI and POL Join the Show

SUI and POL, newer entrants to the L1 conversation, also posted strong gains—both up just over 10%. Their momentum likely correlates with a broader hunt for “next ETH” narratives as Solana takes a breather. SUI's buzzing developer activity, coupled with POL’s dynamic validator incentive design, are drawing the attention of technical audiences—aka the ones who move quietly before the masses chase green candles.

Dog Days for Memecoins: CHEEMS and TRUMP Take Hits

Not everyone was invited to today’s pump party, though. CHEEMS led the loser board with a sharp -10.4%, followed by TRUMP at -9.03%. What’s going on here?

It seems like the memecoin micro-season that kicked off earlier this month is already cooling off. Much of the CHEEMS rally was driven by Reddit-fueled nostalgia and Elon-adjacent tweets—not exactly lasting fuel. As for TRUMP, the real-world court drama might be fun for cable news, but it’s not doing crypto holders any favors. This is a classic case of traders rotating capital into stronger narratives as the memecoin novelty wears thin.

The Sentiment Shift: Twitter Leading the Pulse

A dive into today's Twitter threads paints a clear picture: AI-only indexes are now a thing (yes, crypto Twitter never sleeps). Influential accounts are hyping up “real tech” again, citing Nvidia’s blowout Q1 as a macro tailwind for all things artificial intelligence and decentralized infrastructure. It’s no longer about meme virality—this week, it’s about builders, developers, and use cases.

One viral tweet reads: “The next bull run won’t be memecoins. It'll be compute, bandwidth, and intelligence—on chain and composable.” Whether it’s wishful thinking or the start of a new market cycle narrative, traders are listening.

Stablecoins Quiet, Volatility Index Signals Bullish Bias

Stablecoin dominance remains steady, a sign that capital hasn't completely fled risk-on assets. Meanwhile, implied volatility is ticking upward across major altcoins, suggesting a bullish bias from options desks. The data’s backing up the sentiment—this isn’t just Twitter hopium.

TLDR: Rotation Season is Here

Today’s tape tells a story not only of price action but of belief shifting—away from joke tokens and toward utility plus narrative. Whether this AI + infrastructure mini-cycle sustains is anyone’s guess, but smart money seems to be moving accordingly. Add to that the upcoming ETH ETF chatter and bitcoin halving afterglow, and it’s a powder keg of potential setups.

We say: Keep one hand on the AI tokens and one eye on the DePIN sector. And maybe—just maybe—stop YOLO'ing into every meme that trends for 30 minutes.

Newsworthy

Polygon (MATIC) teased a possible partnership with a major institution. Crypto Twitter is shifting narrative focus from meme projects toward AI, DePIN, and utility-backed altcoins.

Pro-Tip:

Watch the DePIN sector for continued breakout potential: projects like AERO could be compounders in the next narrative wave. Time to revisit the whitepapers you skipped in 2023.

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Disclaimer: The content of this article is for general market education and commentary and is not intended to serve as financial, investment, or any other type of advice.

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